Dr. Wesley Britton

Reviewer Dr. Wesley
Britton: Dr. Britton is the author of four non-fiction books on
espionage in literature and the media. Starting in fall 2015, his new
six-book science fiction series, The Beta-Earth Chronicles, debuted
via BearManor Media. For seven years, he was co-host of online
radio’s Dave White Presents where he contributed interviews with a
host of entertainment insiders. Before his retirement in 2016, Dr.
Britton taught English at Harrisburg Area Community College. Learn
more about Dr. Britton at hisWEBSITE

“She looked at the broken green and gray and black
patterns on her uniform, touched the pistol strapped on her chest.
The shape of her knife dug into her leg. The hard molded radio helmet
was an unfamiliar intrusion on her head. She was encased in armor.
She felt like she'd fallen through the looking glass into the fantasy
world of a video war game, but this wasn't a game. This was real.

Three weeks ago she'd been
standing at a podium at Stanford, giving a lecture on Indo-European
languages. Life was predictable and safe, if a little boring. Now she
carried enough weapons to take out a small village. There was a
reason for that, namely that she might have to use them, which meant
someone might be using weapons against her. She wasn't at all sure
she could handle it.”

In the opening pages of
White Jade, a millionaire is brutally tortured to death in his home
by invaders who steal his fortune while they seek a mysterious book.
The murder comes to the attention of Elizabeth Harker, in charge of a
covert group called Project with a direct line to the White House.
She assigns former Recon Marine Nicholas Carter to investigate. He
quickly meets up with the murdered man’s niece, Selena
Connor, a world class expert in martial arts and ancient languages.
She has the clues to find the book the thieves were looking for, a
2000 year old manuscript connected to the first emperor of China
which allegedly holds the secret to immortality.

In short order, the
killers are tracking Carter and Connor. After a few close calls,
including an explosion which traps the pair in an old mine, Project
uncovers a mole inside the FBI who’s involved with a conspiracy
that could lead to disasters on the west coast of the U.S. and a coup
in China. Add to this the mystery of that ancient book and its
origins in a remote monastery in Tibet—is it immortality or another
secret that holds another type of dangerous power? Is another world
war inevitable?

If all of this sounds like
a thriller full of familiar clichés, you’re correct. But several
elements make White Jade a worthy first entry in a new
action-adventure series. First,
author Alex Lukeman doesn’t sketch stock characters. Nick Carter,
who could have been the archetypal 007 substitute, is a man with a
back-story that involves lingering feelings for a dead fiancée and
guilt over his war time activities in Afghanistan. Selena Connor is a
woman who reacts to the increasingly dangerous realm she’s drawn
into with realistic responses. Second, Lukeman drives his story with
an almost break-neck pace. Each chapter is only a few pages long
before the perspective shifts again and again. Third, the author
begins his story focused on a few characters in more-or-less normal
settings before the vista expands and takes the lead characters into
vividly described Tibetan tunnels and chambers laced with exotic
deadly traps.

Not only is White Jade engaging on its own, it’s clear
Lukeman has long-term plans for Carter, Connor, and Project. The book
includes a chapter from the second novel in the series, The Lance,
which was published a few months after the first outing. Book three
is scheduled for early 2012. So, if such yarns are your cup of tea,
White Jade should whet your appetite for the continuing adventures of
believable warriors keeping the world safe from rogue generals and
their minions. Stay tuned . . .